First of all, let me remind you people that I'm not affiliated to this film, neither directly nor indirectly, therefore there is no reason for me to dress up my comment in any direction, which in turn enable me to put an impartial comment about this film.
Second, I also watched the film, being a Korean (living in Korea of course) and the film being shown in nearby theater, so I might be able to seek out the Cons and Pros of the film more accurately than some people who just speculate on other's comment only.
That being said, let me tell you what's really happening in Korea concerning D-War OK, the facts first.
As of Aug 6th (Korean local time), D-War viewer counter surpassed 3 million. That's right. This movie is a huge hit in Korea, whether it is a masterpiece or crap. The increase rate of total viewer number is such that there is saying that D-War will surpass the total viewer record of 13 million, a record set by last year's The Host.
For this particular film, there are ongoing struggle between two sizable forces. The Korean orthodox film-making faction, represented by 'Choong Moo Ro' the Korean version of Hollywood - is the major force of film-making in Korea. This is where almost all Korean movies were born.
And there is an unorthodox film making faction. In fact, it is so small in size and force to compare fairly with the other side. Therefore it is treated not as much as a faction, but just a time-to-time phenomenon that pops up once in a while.
Director Shim belongs to the latter and his film D-War is the single most successful (as of yet, in Korean market) case.
Shim was (and I believe he still is) one of the most famous (therefore successful) comedian in Korean of all time. That is a fact everyone (even the Choong Moo Ro faction) acknowledges.
However, the fact that he is a successful comedian worked against his transition to a film director.
I don't know about other countries, but in here, the comedian used to be treated as 'low class job' because what they do looked silly, so when he became a director, he was ruthlessly criticized by the orthodox faction.
Those criticisms still exist today, as you can find those in Korean film related sites.
So what happened? Almost, um... no, that's a wrong word. All of the critics rated D-War at the bottom end, sometimes even lower than some of the real crap film which did not survive in domestic market for more than a week. (Their rating was very simple. If a for-real crap film made by the orthodox faction has terrible plot, they would shrug and say, 'it's creative.') This in turn fueled the rage of people using the internet (called Netizen here), and they took their fight to the orthodox faction, creating a BIG MESS as a result.
With such a huge struggle going on, general population overheard the news of it and many of them became more curious about the film of issue, the D-War I suspect this event ironically played a big role D-War getting this record breaking sale in domestic market.
Now, about the film itself.
As I've seen it, I don't think it is a knockout that some people say, but I don't think it's such a bad movie that some others say.
The plot is there, however lacking it's smoothness in transition between the scenes. And the plot itself is not bad.
The problem is how the film weaves the story. In that part, there is a major 'Whoopsie,' that in turn creates three major (serious, but not totally lethal, I think) problems.
The fact that total running time is about 90mins may have affected it, but since Shim must have played a part in editing, it might not be a good excuse.
First, it brings some confusion in understanding the storyline.
Second, it affects the actors and actresses, making their acting look awkward and out of place sometimes.
Third, it makes the first half of the movie quite boring, since that part is where the film explains the overall plots and develops them. Actually, there was some good humor evenly placed, the director Shim's trademark sort (He used to be a Comedian, if you have forgotten) to ease the boredom, but it's quite 'Korean thing,' so I doubt it might work in off-shore market.
Okay, so is the D-War really crap? I wouldn't say so. Personally, I was bored to hell in the first half of the movie, but was mesmerized to the CG scene in the second half.
The second half of the movie, where the action really starts is where the 'fun' begins. (That is, if you endured the first half without major outburst of anger and exited the theater by kicking the door open) Well, the battle scene is quite good, considering its CG was all domestic (I mean Korean) technology and it was really their first shot at it.
Compared to Transformer? In evaluation of absolute term, Transformer is better. I mean, c'mon, what did you expect? The total cost for D-War is around 70 billion won, which is approximately $75 million. How much did the Transformer cost? I don't know. But I don't think it's anywhere near $75 mil.
That fact in mind, CG in D-War is not half bad. It's even impressive in some way, as long as you don't measure it with major Hollywood block-buster film standard. I mean, you don't compare Lamborghini and Ford Mustang by same standard, do you?
So, there you have it.
D-War is not a 'record-setting' block-buster, but it's not a 'Straight to DVD shop' crap.
Some of you might quite enjoy it, while some of you won't.
Second, I also watched the film, being a Korean (living in Korea of course) and the film being shown in nearby theater, so I might be able to seek out the Cons and Pros of the film more accurately than some people who just speculate on other's comment only.
That being said, let me tell you what's really happening in Korea concerning D-War OK, the facts first.
As of Aug 6th (Korean local time), D-War viewer counter surpassed 3 million. That's right. This movie is a huge hit in Korea, whether it is a masterpiece or crap. The increase rate of total viewer number is such that there is saying that D-War will surpass the total viewer record of 13 million, a record set by last year's The Host.
For this particular film, there are ongoing struggle between two sizable forces. The Korean orthodox film-making faction, represented by 'Choong Moo Ro' the Korean version of Hollywood - is the major force of film-making in Korea. This is where almost all Korean movies were born.
And there is an unorthodox film making faction. In fact, it is so small in size and force to compare fairly with the other side. Therefore it is treated not as much as a faction, but just a time-to-time phenomenon that pops up once in a while.
Director Shim belongs to the latter and his film D-War is the single most successful (as of yet, in Korean market) case.
Shim was (and I believe he still is) one of the most famous (therefore successful) comedian in Korean of all time. That is a fact everyone (even the Choong Moo Ro faction) acknowledges.
However, the fact that he is a successful comedian worked against his transition to a film director.
I don't know about other countries, but in here, the comedian used to be treated as 'low class job' because what they do looked silly, so when he became a director, he was ruthlessly criticized by the orthodox faction.
Those criticisms still exist today, as you can find those in Korean film related sites.
So what happened? Almost, um... no, that's a wrong word. All of the critics rated D-War at the bottom end, sometimes even lower than some of the real crap film which did not survive in domestic market for more than a week. (Their rating was very simple. If a for-real crap film made by the orthodox faction has terrible plot, they would shrug and say, 'it's creative.') This in turn fueled the rage of people using the internet (called Netizen here), and they took their fight to the orthodox faction, creating a BIG MESS as a result.
With such a huge struggle going on, general population overheard the news of it and many of them became more curious about the film of issue, the D-War I suspect this event ironically played a big role D-War getting this record breaking sale in domestic market.
Now, about the film itself.
As I've seen it, I don't think it is a knockout that some people say, but I don't think it's such a bad movie that some others say.
The plot is there, however lacking it's smoothness in transition between the scenes. And the plot itself is not bad.
The problem is how the film weaves the story. In that part, there is a major 'Whoopsie,' that in turn creates three major (serious, but not totally lethal, I think) problems.
The fact that total running time is about 90mins may have affected it, but since Shim must have played a part in editing, it might not be a good excuse.
First, it brings some confusion in understanding the storyline.
Second, it affects the actors and actresses, making their acting look awkward and out of place sometimes.
Third, it makes the first half of the movie quite boring, since that part is where the film explains the overall plots and develops them. Actually, there was some good humor evenly placed, the director Shim's trademark sort (He used to be a Comedian, if you have forgotten) to ease the boredom, but it's quite 'Korean thing,' so I doubt it might work in off-shore market.
Okay, so is the D-War really crap? I wouldn't say so. Personally, I was bored to hell in the first half of the movie, but was mesmerized to the CG scene in the second half.
The second half of the movie, where the action really starts is where the 'fun' begins. (That is, if you endured the first half without major outburst of anger and exited the theater by kicking the door open) Well, the battle scene is quite good, considering its CG was all domestic (I mean Korean) technology and it was really their first shot at it.
Compared to Transformer? In evaluation of absolute term, Transformer is better. I mean, c'mon, what did you expect? The total cost for D-War is around 70 billion won, which is approximately $75 million. How much did the Transformer cost? I don't know. But I don't think it's anywhere near $75 mil.
That fact in mind, CG in D-War is not half bad. It's even impressive in some way, as long as you don't measure it with major Hollywood block-buster film standard. I mean, you don't compare Lamborghini and Ford Mustang by same standard, do you?
So, there you have it.
D-War is not a 'record-setting' block-buster, but it's not a 'Straight to DVD shop' crap.
Some of you might quite enjoy it, while some of you won't.